Search this Blog

"Amani Children's Home is dedicated to the protection of Tanzania's most vulnerable population: street-children and AIDS orphans. Since its founding by local Tanzanians in 2001, Amani Children's Home has rescued over 290 children from the perils of life on the streets, where children face a high risk of HIV transmission and malnutrition. We welcome donations from all who want to help us give these precious children a haven from neglect and abuse." (Quoted from www.amanikids.org)

Want to get involved? Click here to change the life of a precious child. May His grace abound!

Blog Design By

Friday, October 28, 2011

Yes, my mom read yesterday's post. Yes, I heard from her. Yes, she shook her head with both disbelief (because I am almost half-of-a-century old and am still more stubborn than a mule and dumber than a stick) and resignation (because she has known for 49+ years that I am more stubborn than a mule and dumber than a stick). But she did say that she loves me anyway, so I am a happy camper. Though my back is sore because I was stubborn and dumb and bathed one of my dogs. But I am confident that my mama will keep on loving me anyway, even if I am stubborn and dumb and go ahead and bathe the other two dogs tomorrow. Right, Mom? Mom? Hellllooooo Mamasita! (I'll let you know if she answers. She may not want to admit it, lol.)

At any rate, here are the last of the photos of Alex's scrapbook. I really love this November layout. That turkey is too cute, and I love the autumn leaves on this Stampin' Up paper.

This is one of my faves, too. LOVE this stamp!

I had so much fun making these owls with my punch from Stampin' Up.

So that's it for this baby book. I can't finish the other one until Stephanie finds out what she's having, which should be next week.

Gotta run, but I'll be back tomorrow with some pics of Emma and a few funny stories.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Quick post today, mostly just photos. (If you missed Part 1 of Alex's scrapbook and are really dying to see it, scroll down to yesterday's post.) My back is finally feeling better, so I am about to be really dumb and start catching up on the things I've neglected all week. My mom will be e-mailing me about 2 second after she reads that. We all know she'll be right. We also all know that I am an old, stubborn fool. :)

I love these nursery rhyme stamps by SU. They are just too cute! But now that I am looking at this photo, I see that the left page is too crowded. I think I'll take off the middle mat in the column of three and replace it with the title.

Told you it would be quick! Off I go to do some chores before my mama finds me!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Okay, so this is day four of "I-don't-know-how-I-hurt-it-but-my-back-is-OUT-out." It feels an itty, bitty, teensy, weensy bit less tight this morning. It did this yesterday, too, only to tighten up and spasm a few hours later. I really wish I had a good story of how I hurt it. Let me think. Ooh! How about "I did a triple axel on the ice and landed off center just a bit because I was distracted by the thunderous applause." Or maybe "After just a few weeks, my debut novel hit #1 on the NYT Bestsellers List, and my book/talk show tour was crazy and I had to sit and autograph a kazillion books!" Or better yet, "Rick and I retired to the Caribbean and I slept far too long curled up with my sweetheart beneath the glistening stars on our private beach." Suh-weet! But to be honest, it's more likely that I got hurt simply lacing my skates, opening my laptop to begin that great American novel, or tripping on absolutely nothing but sand. Who knows...

At any rate, I finished Alex's baby book last week. I was going to wait to get some better photos, but at this point I've decided that these photos are good enough. Otherwise, you might never see them. The colors are a bit brighter in the photos than they actually are, and they're not well focused, but eh, you'll get the idea.

Alex is having a girl and is decorating her nursery in purple with pink and green accents. So get ready to see lots of purple! Purple happens to be my favorite color, so I had tons of purpleiscious fun with this scrapbook. And I need to make a disclaimer: I borrowed most, if not all, of these layouts from Christy Stanford. If you want to check out her latest amazing baby book, click here. (Once again, thank you, Miss C!)

These are the front and back covers. This SU paper (Cottage Wall, Rich Razzleberry, and Orchid Opulence) is one of my favorite paper combos ever. See, my paper-hoarding problem paid off! LOL (This is pretty much an exact copy of a layout Christy made for a previous baby book.)

These, obviously, are the baby shower pages. This paper combo, another one of my favorites, is CTMH's Bella. I made extra pages assuming Alex will have tons of photos.

I'm sending her a few white pens for people to write on these pages.

And, of course, I had to make my shower card match the shower pages.

The title on this page didn't show up well. It has clear glitter on it, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a good photo of it. You'll just have to take my word that it says "Princess Sophia." The borders, which you really can't see, have princesses, crowns, and dragons on them. After I had adhered the borders, I realized that the title wouldn't show up well on them no matter what color I used, so the title had to go across the middle, which means that most of the border can't be seen. I didn't have any extra paper, so it is what it is. These are for the photos of Sophia's grand arrival. Once Alex adds photos, no one will care about the borders anyway.

I really like these pages. My favorite part is the little Lovey Bugg stamp. Christy Croll, aka Tiddily inks, drew this image after seeing Emma in her ladybug costume when she was 18 months old. No wonder I love it!

And here's the photo of Emma that inspired the stamp. I'm reposting it just because I LOVELOVE LOVE it and because my mom loves any post with a photo of Emma in it. So this one's for you, mamasita!

(Hmm...if only my fat, jiggly thighs were as cute as a bug.)

I'm having trouble uploading photos on Blogger, so that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with more baby book photos (assuming Blogger cooperates).

Our local meteorologist claims that we are going to get our first snow of the season tomorrow (just a few inches), followed by a possible Nor'Easter on Saturday which will have high winds and dump 6+ inches on us. Emma is pretty excited about the possibility of snow! And who knows, maybe if I go outside and slip on the snow, my back may be wrenched into its normal state. (Just kidding, mom!)

Oh, and Tiffany is slowly improving. The poor puppy has spent the last three days in my lap. She really does think I'm her mama. That's fine with me. :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Tiffany loves to chase her tail. So when she was chasing it yesterday, we didn't think it was anything unusual. Then last night she started to nip aggressively at her left hind quarter. She's a Shih Tzu and has lots of hair, so the problem wasn't easy to see: she had an abcess which was deep red, warm to the touch, and looked ready to burst. She only weighs 10 pounds, so it wouldn't take long for her to be in serious trouble. We rushed her to an emergency vet, and by the time we got there, which was only 20 minutes later, it was oozing and oh so pleasant. (You can thank me later for that not-at-all-grotesque mental picture.) For a mere two hours and $316, the vet lanced and cleaned it. (Bet that mental picture just became worse!) But it was worth it, because in my house my dogs aren't just dogs, they're my babies. Anyway, Tiffany now has an open wound so she's on pain meds and antibiotics. She normally sleeps on the bed with us (along with Wylie), but I thought she might be more comfortable in her kennel so that no one would bump her. Silly me. She cried and cried and cried some more, so we covered our bed with an old blanket and put her on it. She slept all night curled up against me.

The vet put a collar on Tiffany so she wouldn't lick her wound. Not only is her snout so short that she cannot eat or drink while wearing the collar, but the collar was totally making her freak. She kept shaking her head trying to escape from it. As soon as I removed the collar, she tried to lick the wound. So Rick ran to Target early this morning and bought some baby onesies for her.

Goofy, huh? But it keeps her wound covered so she can't lick it, and she's not nearly as freaked out by the onesie as she was by the collar. My poor baby! She's sleeping on my lap. I'm still in my jammies, sitting on the couch with a heating pad because my back is not just out, it's OUT out big time. I have no idea how I hurt it. I just know that I can barely move.

In other news (which is so unimportant but eh, there's nothing else to do but play on my blog in a feeble attempt to distract myself from drinking anything, because even the teensiest bit of water will necessitate a pathetic shuffle to the bathroom and will illicit some pathetic groans as I try to stand up again and shuffle back to my spot on the couch), our trusty bread maker of 20 years finally kicked the loaf pan so to speak. I did some research and bought a new one. I am amazed at how much better and easier this one is. I've been playing with it, trying to modify recipes to be Weight Watchers friendly because I don't want to regain the 50 pounds I lost just because I bought a new bread maker. I also decided to try making cinnamon rolls. The first batch I made last weekend were just okay. We decided they weren't worth the Weight Watchers points that they cost. So I tried a different recipe on Friday. Let me just say, "Cinnabon who???" They are truly better than Cinnanbon's! Check these out. Yummalish!

They should be good because they cost a kazillion Weight Watchers points. Poor Rick and the girls had to be my lab rats and suffered through these yesterday morning, LOL. We all agreed that they will make the perfect breakfast on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter mornings. I will hide the recipe from myself for the other 49 weekends a year. Well, maybe I'll make them for Mother's Day and Father's Day as well. So make that 47 weekends in hiding. Unless I happen to wake up tomorrow looking like Barbie. Then maybe I'll make them every weekend. If only I had known to wish for that on my birthday, ha ha! Hey, wait just a minute. Maybe I DID wake up this morning looking like Barbie. Maybe her hugely disproportionate and, well, HUGE chest is how I threw my back out and I just don't realize it because I can't stand up to look in a mirror! Mystery solved. Break out the cinnamon rolls! Hee hee!

My mom thinks that every post should contain at least one photo of Emma, so here you go mamasita! Yesterday Brittany took Emma to The Disney Store for a pre-Halloween party. Brittany's friend, Kristin, brought her son dressed as Sheriff Woody from Toy Story. Emma wore her new Belle ensemble that Papa brought for her from Disneyland a month or so ago. Here are Emma and Dylan holding hands as they stroll through the mall. Too cute!

Uh-oh. That teensy sip of water is causing trouble. Let the shuffle begin.

Friday, October 21, 2011

I have a bit of a cold and am more fuzzy-headed than usual, so please bear with my rambling. LOL

My SIL, Kristin, sends Emma the cutest gift bags for every holiday. Emma has figured this out, and every time she receives a package from Aunt Kristin she squeals with delight before she even opens it!

These sticky gel decorations are now proudly displayed on Emma's bedroom wall as well as on Brittany's patio door.

Halloween sprinkles! Emma and mommy went straight home and made yummy cupcakes which they shared with me and Papa.

Emma assembled and decorated this spooky 3D foam tree. Emma loves to make crafts. (Wonder where she got that gene...)

This is a super cute book most of which Emma can read all by herself!

Emma saves all of her adorable hand-made cards from Aunt Kristin.

I love this photo! Emma was so excited by her Halloween headband, she couldn't wait to wear it even thought the tag was still attached. (Why don't I look this cute when I forget to cut the tag off of a new shirt and leave it dangling from my armpit?)

Yay for sparkly Halloween stickers! Emma adores sparkles and glitter. You should see my basement carpet beneath her craft table. (Yes, Emma has her own craft table and it's covered with glue and glitter!)

After she devours all of the cupcakes, Emma and her mommy are going to make cookies with these adorable Halloween cookie cutters.

Check out this adorable card that Kristin made for me.

She also made this candy holder with two small Hershey bars hidden inside! (BTW, thanks Kristin~my growing SU Wish List now has several more things on it, ha ha!)

Thank you for all of the wonderful treats, Kristin!

Miss Emma has been sick with a cold this week. She loves her mommy and me sooooooo much that she just had to share it with us. Guess that's what I get for stealing a kazillion kisses from her every day. Oh well, it's worth it! Anyway, Brittany stayed home from work yesterday, so I had a whole day to myself. I spent the entire day in my craft room! After about three hours I made a Starbucks run and swung by Brittany's to deliver drinks to my girls. Apparently a pumpkin spice latte gets my mojo going because I cranked in my craft room for the next five hours. (Thank you, Kristin~that latte was a scrumptious treat!) I finished one of the baby books and got started on a few Fall cards. I'll try to take some photos today.

Here are a few little things I made last week. Guess I really like this paper and I love the ribbon!

This is the Cherished Teddy that Miss Emma chose for October.

So that's all the rambling I have for today. Off to find a box of tissues. Wishing you a fun and sneezeless Friday!

P.S. For a good chuckle, click on the Cake Wrecks link in the column to your right. Scroll down to the "Open Belly, Insert Foot" post to see why I'm laughing.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Last weekend, Brittany and Miss Emma attended a local Harvest Festival. Brittany helped run a booth for her school. One of the activities she coordinated was face painting. Her students were tickled to paint Emma's face.

Is she not the cutest kid EVER??? Just sayin'.

She also had her hair painted!

And then it was Emma's turn to paint Mommy!

Yup, Brittany walked around like that all day long. She's such an awesome mommy!

That's it for today, I need to photograph some scrapbook pages again, as the ones I took are too blurry. And yes, I looked while wearing my glasses. :)